poetry books – Susan Joy Clark

Dad recently messaged me with a few old poems from his youth, and I thought I would republish one here.

Bubbles

Never trust a bubble,

Though it bobbles in the air,

Or drifting gently there,

Does allure.

Though it twinkles in the light

With colorful delight,

Don’t be sure.

Though you very lightly grasp it,

Though you very gently clasp it

Like a dunce;

All at once,

Nothing first,

It will burst.

My dad was a physics major at New York University and was a senior scientist at ITT, accumulating 44 patents over his time there. He was working on things like voice recognition and GPS long before these became common terms everyone knew. He also invented many things to help out the U.S. military and worked on a secure telephone that President Reagan used. Many who know him might be surprised at his artistic side, but he wrote a lot of poems in his youth.

I have a great aunt on dad’s side who had some accomplishments as a painter and poet. Below is one of her poetry books.

One Thanksgiving, a cousin on dad’s side, who has appointed himself as our family historian, shared all sorts of stories about Great Aunt Marie and showed me a different poetry book of hers that he has. I never met my great aunt, but I found it all fascinating. I Googled my great aunt and was surprised at what I found. I was able to order the book above from Amazon, which actually came from a used bookstore in California, and was even an autographed copy. I’ve been meaning to post about this in detail for a long time, so stay tuned …

So, I wasn’t tagged exactly, but I saw this idea on Reading with Rendz blog and decided to play along.

RULES

Thank the person who nominated you
Answer all the questions down below
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Nominate 5+ bloggers you’d like to know more about, to do this tag

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading two books actually. I am reading a culinary comical mystery by Michael Bond, Paddington Bear’s writer. This is a series written for adults that I only just discovered. The series is called Monsieur Pamplemousse, and the particular title I’m reading is Monsieur Pamplemousse on Vacation.

I have a Kindle edition of this book. I recently had to accompany my father at his doctor’s appointment at the hospital. I wanted to read in the waiting room but had trouble charging my Kindle overnight. So, I picked up an unread physical book from my shelf, The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It’s a very different book from the other, but I am enjoying it so far. It’s a mystery, a romance and a Gothic novel.

What’s your favorite “can’t leave the house” activity?

I enjoy a lot of “can’t leave the house” activities. The top three would be creative writing, drawing/illustrating and reading. During the pandemic, I’ve been doing a lot of healthy cooking and in-home exercise (mostly some form of dance exercise.) I’ve also been doing a little more with my YouTube channels and would like to do more with filming.

A book you’ve been meaning to read forever

There are probably too many of these, but I looked at my Goodreads “to be read” list for inspiration. I’ll just give one example, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I saw a film version of it. It’s a YA novel about a teen girl who was raped and has difficulty confessing what happened to her. She’s also an artistic teen which I find interesting and relatable.

An intimidating book on your tbr list

I would say that would be War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. At a former job, I was carrying my big, fat physical copy of the book to work every day to read during my lunch break. For some reason, I had to set it aside for some time and then I lost my bookmark and my place in the book. I was about three quarters of the way through it. At this point, so much time has passed that I would need to start at the beginning again.

top 3 priority books on your tbr

I have so many that it’s possible I may change my mind before I get there. I would like to read Ahead of Her Time: An SAT Vocabulary Novel by Erica Abbett. This may seem like an interesting choice, but I am preparing for tutoring. It involves an archaeological dig and time travel. I also recently bought two new Kindle books, one from my Amazon recommendations, Mr. Finchley Discovers His England by Victor Canning. It’s a humorous book from the ’30s and, though the title doesn’t give it away, apparently involves all sorts of adventures and shenanigans and smugglers. I’ve just recently added a book from a blogger I discovered quite a while back, Veronica Brush of Themeless Writing. She has a humorous murder mystery set on Mars, First Grave on Mars. I don’t often venture into sci-fi, but I do occasionally, and I do enjoy humor and mysteries.

Recommend a short book

I did recently read a very short book, Einstein’s Cat by Tom Skinner. It’s a short book of light, humorous verse about Einstein’s cat and different lettuces and galahs on bicycles.

Recommend a long book

A somewhat recent read that was fairly long, 464 pages, is Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Potzch. It’s a mystery thriller involving an antiquarian book seller who finds an encoded diary of Ludwig II of Bavaria and an art detective.

Something you’d like to do while stuck at home

I think I mentioned several activities already, but I recently bought a Creative Bible with special pages for coloring and decorating verses. It would be nice to spend more time on this.

What do you plan on reading next?

I started to read Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin and interrupted to read another book. I do that sometimes. I plan to finish. Rosie leaves her job as a sous-chef to start a travelling tea shop in a pink campervan.

I tag …

Pam Webb Books, Baking and Blogging Kirstie Ellen Jar Full of Manna Corey Reads

Tag: poetry books

Bubbles (An Old Poem of Dad’s)